


Five Moments When Jack O'Neill Almost Gave Up

by Jedi Buttercup (jedibuttercup)



Series: Nickle (or a Dime) For Your Thoughts [2]
Category: Stargate (1994), Stargate SG-1
Genre: 5 Things, Angst, Canon Related, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-09-20
Updated: 2006-09-20
Packaged: 2017-10-10 08:45:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/97816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jedibuttercup/pseuds/Jedi%20Buttercup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, he wonders.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Moments When Jack O'Neill Almost Gave Up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Izhilzha](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izhilzha/gifts).



> Spoilers up through Season 7, including the Stargate movie.

**1) Abyss**

If Daniel hadn't come to Jack that day he'd woken up in Ba'al's custody... no memory of how he'd got there, followed by torture, sarcophagus, rinse, repeat... well. So maybe he hadn't taken Daniel up on his ridiculous offer, but his friend's presence had given him something to focus on, a reason to fight. (He's never quite been able to take Ba'al seriously since; nothing the Goa'uld ever did after that could compare to those endless, endless hours).

**2) A Matter of Time**

When Frank Cromwell fell into that black hole, Jack had had this sick feeling in the pit of his stomach that they'd left it too late. That he wouldn't make it, either, and that the whole shaped-charge plan was going to fail; that it would either fail to make the wormhole jump, leading to the complete destruction of Earth, or that it was going to set off all the naquadah in the Gate no matter what Carter said about it, and that the only good thing was he wouldn't be there to see it happen. (He still can't quite believe they got out of that one without more serious consequences).

**3) A Hundred Days**

Jack will never forget his first sight of the crater on Edora where the Stargate had used to stand. He'd tried to believe they would still come back for him-- and he'd made it nearly a hundred days before Laira talked him into metaphorically taking off his coat to stay awhile. Err, more than metaphorically, too.

He'd been calculating how long it would take someone to reach them by ship, and had decided he'd probably be an old man before anything could happen. Long enough that it was time to make like Picard in that episode with the flute, put his past aside and move on. And of course, ironically enough, that had been the very day his kids figured out how to make it through. (Sometimes he wonders what would have happened if Laira had thrown the radio in the lake instead of bringing back to him. Sometimes, too, he wonders if he left a child behind, like she wanted. He's never been brave enough to go back and check).

**4) Window of Opportunity**

There are no words to describe how frustrating it was, stuck in that endless loop for months on end after Malikai set off the Ancient's broken time device. If Daniel hadn't suggested to Jack, that one loop, that he could do anything... well. He's pretty sure he really would have lost it. (His pottery skills haven't come in all that handy since, and golf hasn't been the same since he spent relative days putting unlimited balls straight through the wormhole, but he at least got the chance to find out what Carter tastes like without risking both their careers).

and... **5) Stargate: the Movie**

No one should have to outlive their own child.


End file.
